Can we hurry up with more mountain renaming

[cowboyxjon]

At some point, I’m sure somebody, somewhere will decide that Mt. Blue Sky is somehow offensive as well and the whole process will happen again. I think Mt. Evans should have been renamed to something super generic, like “Colorado Mountain Peak #37.”

[Melanzana92]

Originally Posted by Phil P

Good mountain names:
...
Tater Heap
...

Yes, unironically we need more silly sounding mountain names like this. And we still have soooo many unnamed mountains. For example, Handies Peak has a high 13er right next to it which is unnamed. I'd like to propose "Job Mountain" for that one.

And to put my 2 cents in about Blue Sky...I don't think the argument of "erasing history" holds water. Who Evans was and what he did is well documented.

I honestly think we should just call mountains and features that have native names by their native names. It's not so difficult. And many of the native names sound cooler anyway. After stealing all the land, acknowledging who was here first with such a simple gesture is literally the bare minimum we could do, but what many seem to see as "weakness" I'd just call "maturity."

[Mike from back east]

Howzebout Rocky Top? It's already got it's own song!

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Howzebout Rocky Top? It's already got it's own song!

That's in a different state though.

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by interloper1138

Except Blanca wasn't named that way with any sort of reverence towards the Navajo nor the rock. The massif it is apart of was named the Sierra Blanca (white mountains) because they had snow on them when American explorers / surveyors showed up in the valley... This is just a coincidence.

And I already mentioned I've climbed it twice. I'm well aware of what the rock looks like...

Well in that case it's a very neat coincidence because it's such a fitting match of both history and the mountains character.

Originally Posted by adjusterjack

Not only is your rant flawed but your premise is flawed.

Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
Mount Wellington in Tasmania named after the 1st Duke of Wellington.
Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. Probably named under British rule.
Vasco Da Gamma Peak in South Africa named after the explorer.
Mount Herzl in Israel named after Theodor Herzl.
Mount Cook in New Zealand named after James Cook.

That's only a sampling. I'm sure that the world has many other mountains named after people.

That's british people doing that to their "new lands". Give me an example of a native society that named a mountain after a person that's stuck for more than 1000 years.

Originally Posted by Arktikos

This writing local to my area could be of interest: https://juneaunature.discoverysouthe...ming-our-home/

"Name as story; name as narcissism

What I call IGWN's (Important white guy names) are referred to by the US Board on Geographic Names as "commemorative names"....Trying to change an existing commemorative name-however objectionable-is probably futile. While Orth (1997) does have guidelines for removal of so called "derogatory names", these are rarely invoked...(Even place names including the word "squaw" are hard to delete..)

...IGWN's are even more bombproof. There's no federal process for retroactively adjudicating worthiness of important white guys, once they've been commemorated. We could argue endlessly over who was the most arrogant scumball. In early days of exploration and settlement, Southeast Alaska was a pretty mean karma place. Off-hand, I can't think of anyone from that period worth celebrating.."

Thanks for sharing! As you state, it's a pain in the *** to get this stuff changed, so the system is biased towards being frozen rather than having a rename every 40 years.

Originally Posted by otowi

I think there could be an argument for keeping at least some of the 'commemorative' names if along with them came a good dose of education about the biographies and histories of these people in a non-sanitized way. I think some people fear that if we get rid of all these names, that all that history would be forgotten. The original purpose of a commemoration was to honor that individual, but that original intent doesn't have to stay even if the name does, imho.

I think there is also a good argument for not ignoring or negating the prior-existing names of these places prior to 'commemoration', especially those that were native names, although when there could be several, which to prefer becomes a debate. If people can't bring themselves to accept the native transliterations/pronunciations, the translations into English would seem to be apropos. For example, Pikes Peak has a native name Tava Kaavi which I am told translates to Sun Mountain, and it was also known as James Mountain after the botanist Edwin James who first successfully climbed it in 1820 (although probably natives had prior to that).

I understand why a mountain being known and labeled with two names would be problematic for maps and computers and avoiding confusion, but I also see that bringing back the native names into the public awareness would be a good step toward recognizing the long period of human habitation prior to colonization.

100% agree, you can have multiple names for a place - Pikes Peak isn't going to get officially renamed any time soon, it's too embedded, but you could have signs and things that display Tava Kaavi as well and the older history of it. Sun mountain is a good description - Pikes Peak looks like a thermal bake zone with the crumbly pink granite and barrenness up there .

Originally Posted by Melanzana92

Yes, unironically we need more silly sounding mountain names like this. And we still have soooo many unnamed mountains. For example, Handies Peak has a high 13er right next to it which is unnamed. I'd like to propose "Job Mountain" for that one.

And to put my 2 cents in about Blue Sky...I don't think the argument of "erasing history" holds water. Who Evans was and what he did is well documented.

I honestly think we should just call mountains and features that have native names by their native names. It's not so difficult. And many of the native names sound cooler anyway. After stealing all the land, acknowledging who was here first with such a simple gesture is literally the bare minimum we could do, but what many seem to see as "weakness" I'd just call "maturity."

That's what sticks - calling west east lake fork junction 2 is just burndensome . That's a good point, not only do old names never get updated, new ones rarely get introduced, so there's a lot of peaks that are just "the ridge next to"...

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by jbgusa

That's in a different state though.

True, but then again any state with tall mountains, especially those above tree line, will have a rocky top.

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

True, but then again any state with tall mountains, especially those above tree line, will have a rocky top.

The song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n9prNixjbg

[OneDawg]

Originally Posted by Monello

What will they rename it in 100 years when the great windmill fireball of 2122 burns all the wind generators on earth and the skies take on a permanent grey tinge?

Won't make any diff - no one here will be alive to wirness it